Colleges: Big honor for Holy Cross women’s hockey coach

Wednesday

Feb 17, 2010 at 6:00 AMFeb 17, 2010 at 6:44 AM

Holy Cross women’s hockey coach Peter Van Buskirk admitted he was a little surprised to find out he would be receiving this year’s John “Snooks” Kelley Founders Award from the American Hockey Coaches Association.

“I thought you had to be retired to get that award,” Van Buskirk said.

Not so.

At 67, Van Buskirk is still going strong and thoroughly enjoying the game he loves.

“I have my health,” he said, “and I’ll always have the passion.”

Van Buskirk, who has been involved in Holy Cross hockey for 25 years, will be honored for his contributions to the growth and development of the sport in the United States at the ACHA convention April 29-May 2 in Naples, Fla. The prestigious award is named after the famed Boston College coach.

Van Buskirk, who went 167-146-8 as coach of the HC men from 1979 to 1988 and 1996-97, has coached the Crusaders’ women for 10 of their team’s 11 years of existence.

This season, HC is 17-3-2 and closing in on its second straight ECAC East regular-season crown. The Crusaders take a five-game unbeaten streak into Friday’s game at Plymouth State.

“It’s been a combination of balance of skill, attitude and leadership,” Van Buskirk said of his team’s success.

Six players have tallied at least 12 points, led by Stacey Hochkins (20-16-36) and Jocelyn Kratchmer (15-17-32), who rank 1-3 in the conference.

Springfield College junior guard and co-captain Abby Connors would like a do-over, another shot at Amherst, the top ranked team in Division 3, which really hurt the Pride’s pride in a mid-December drubbing.

“I wish we could play them again because we’re a totally different team now,” Connors said.

The 69-29 loss was part of Springfield’s 4-8 start. But with two regular-season games to go, the Pride has turned it around, winning 10 of its last 11 and vaulting into second place in the NEWMAC.

Connors, who graduated as Douglas High’s all-time leading scorer (1,627 points), has been a key contributor to Springfield’s second-half-of-the-season success.

In the last six games, Connors is averaging 11.3 points on 50 percent shooting, 2.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

“I think everyone has found their role and now we’re all playing together,” said Connors, declining to take any personal credit. Connors scored a career-high 20 points in a recent win over conference foe Wheaton. She was 6 for 6 from 3-point territory.

Coach Naomi Graves has guided the Pride to five NCAA appearances in her 19 seasons and an average of 19 wins over the last 13 years, but this year was expected to be a rebuilding one for the Pride. The team lost eight players from last season’s 16-win team.

“There was some inexperience and we were getting to know each other in the beginning of the season,” Connors said. “Now we have that chemistry and every one brings something different.”

Bilateral stress fractures in her shins forced Connors to miss 17 games over the last two seasons. She’s been healthy this year and has played in all but one game.

After her fine high school career, Connors hoped to play at the Division 2 level. That didn’t work out, but she actually found a perfect place at Springfield, where she’s majoring in communication disorders.

“It’s a very sports-oriented school, a lot of student-athletes, so I think I fit in well,” she said.

Connors also played soccer and softball in high school and she’s a big college basketball fan, with Maryland men and Notre Dame women being her favorites.

Assumption sophomore right wing Pat O’Kane, who is closing in on the team’s single-season goal-scoring record, is a semifinalist for the Joe Concannon Award, presented annually to the best American-born player in Division 2-3 in New England.

O’Kane is one of 16 nominees for the award, which will be presented at the New England Hockey Writers dinner in mid-April. Finalists will be announced next month.

O’Kane leads the Northeast-10 Conference in scoring with 27 goals and 13 assists and has helped lead an IceDogs resurgence this season under second-year coach Lance Brady.

At 13-9-1 (8-1-1), Assumption has won more than twice as many games as a year ago and secured a first-round bye in the NE-10 playoffs, which begin Feb. 27.

Assumption has its most wins since the 1996-97 team won 14 games. Paul Lamoureux holds the Assumption record with 31 goals scored in 1978-79.